It was a bloody Sunday for the Dragons as Newcastle registered a whopping 45-12 victory in Mudgee.
The Knights ran in seven tries to two to seal their fourth win on the trot, largely in part to the dazzling efforts by Kalyn Ponga and Mitchell Pearce.
However, Sunday also marked St George Illawarra's fourth consecutive defeat, and coach Paul McGregor conceded change may be necessary.
Two weeks ago, the Dragons fell away towards the end of the game to concede 32 points to Parramatta. Last week, the Warriors caused a boilover and won 26-18.
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Enough is enough for McGregor after a 33-point loss to a Knights outfit that has vaulted into the top eight.
"We didn't get any rhythm from the kick-off," McGregor told reporters.
"The first 40 minutes, we didn't show any resilience in defending errors or penalties, which is highly disappointing.
"I think the frustration was starting to come from middle players on the footy field through errors and us not defending tackle five kicks or shifts."
The Knights ran riot in the first half, scoring four tries to take a 28-0 lead into the break.
The score blew out to 38-0 before the Dragons finally got on the board through Tariq Sims, but Newcastle wasn't done yet.
By game's end, the score read 45-12, the Dragons had missed 35 tackles to Newcastle's 23, and had leaked seven tries.
Such was Newcastle's dominance, that only one middle player - Sims, with 132 - managed more than 100 run metres for the Dragons.
It was a dog of a day for the Red V - they didn't get to play the ball in the Knights end of the field until the 19th minute. Even then, they turned it over almost immediately as a Tim Lafai offload attempt hit the deck.
At times, the Dragons trod on their own tails - a Zac Lomax restart, after Newcastle's first try through Ponga, went dead.
No player appears safe from the chopping block.
"We went into the half 28-0 down, second half was still nowhere near good enough. We've got to have a real good look at why," McGregor said.
"Until today, our first 40 minutes was a top four side and our last 40 minutes is a bottom four side. That's way too inconsistent from this team.
"The same people are making the same errors and the poor reads on a weekly basis.
"It might be time for change."
